Solomon Akhtar
Solomon Akhtar also known as Solly Akhtar (born 18 February 1991) is a British businessman and entrepreneur. He first came to prominence in October 2014 after appearing in the tenth series of The Apprentice.
Solomon Akhtar | |
---|---|
Born | Kent | 18 February 1991
Nationality | British |
Other names | Solly Akhtar |
Occupation | Entrepreneur, reality television contestant |
Years active | 2014–present |
Television | The Apprentice |
Website | Official website |
Early life and education
Akhtar was born on 18 February 1991 in Kent. His father was originally from Pakistan and his mother is white English and lived in Kent.[1] He attended The Skinners' School in Royal Tunbridge Wells, before studying Geography (BA) at the University of Exeter in 2010,[2] where he graduated in 2013.[3]
Career
While Akhtar was studying at Exeter, he founded SunBurnt Events, an event management company. He ran student events with Jack Wills and a group yacht trip around Croatia.[4][5]
During his third year in the university, he set up a company Socialbear (previously called Instabear), a service which prints Instagram photos for people. Socialbear was awarded Best Graduate Start up 2014 by SETsquared Enterprise Awards and was named by Red Brick Research as one of Five Pioneering UK Student Startups 2014.[2] Akhtar still runs the company which has fuelled expansion overseas, with heavy investment in new social media software for live experiential events.[6]
Television
Akthar appeared as a contestant in the tenth series of The Apprentice, and finished in fifth place, after Roisin Hogan, Daniel Lassman, runner-up Bianca Miller-Cole and winner Mark Wright. He made it to the top five contestants, but was fired when he submitted a vague business proposal for We Ship Start-ups, which was notably rejected by Claude Littner for having more pictures of the proposed company logo.[7]
Personal life
Akhtar lives in London.
References
- "Project Peace Interview". Asian World News. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- "Rochester's Felipe Alviar-Baquero, founder of Tiny Town in Larkfield, and Solomon Akhtar founder of Instabear contestants on BBC's The Apprentice". Kent Online. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- "Meet Exeter's Apprentice Star: Solomon Akhtar". Her Campus. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- "The Apprentice 2014: Exeter Uni graduate Solomon Akhtar makes the line-up". Exeter Express and Echo. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
- "Former Skinners' School pupil will compete on The Apprentice with social media start-up". Courier. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- "The Apprentice 2014 odds: Exeter graduate second favourite to win". Exeter Express and Echo. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- "Solomon Akhtar, a former pupil of Skinners School in St John's Road, Tunbridge Wells, reaches interview stage in BBC One's The Apprentice". Kent Online. Retrieved 6 March 2015.